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Analysts: Dual-Core PowerPC G5s Due for Apple

Updated: The company will pack a forthcoming dual-core PowerPC 970 processor into future Mac desktops and even notebooks, analysts predict.

Power Macs and PowerBooks could gain new power plants in the near future, analysts say.

IBMs chip group has been mum on details relating to its PowerPC processor line of late, but analysts expect it to deliver a dual-core PowerPC 970 and possibly a single-core sibling with less of a power appetite. Apple Computer Inc., in turn, could use the two chips to refresh its high-profile Power Mac desktop and PowerBook mobile computer product lines.

Although none of them could confirm the companys actual plans, analysts predict that Apple could discuss its intention to use updated PowerPC 970s—IBMs PowerPC 970 is otherwise known as the PowerPC G5 in Apple parlance—as soon as its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco next week.

The conference, which traditionally kicks off with a keynote speech by Steve Jobs, Apples CEO, is often the stage for important new product launches for Apple.

The Power Mac G5 line, which Apple bumped from a maximum of 2.5GHz to 2.7GHz in April, could make use of a dual-core PowerPC 970 chip—a processor known as the PowerPC 970MP—to boost performance, particularly for applications such as video encoding or photo editing, analysts said. A dual-core chip would also boost Apples Xserve G5 server.

Analysts expect that Apple is also working to add a low-power version of the PowerPC 970 to its PowerBook. A G5 PowerBook is something Apple fans have been awaiting for some time. Although Apple executives have said repeatedly that such a machine represents a design challenge for the company, analysts say it is possible. A dual-core-equipped Power Mac may be first out of the gate, however.

"The 970MP is almost definitely a real project, as Apple has support for it in its developer tools already. That doesnt mean theyre going to ship systems with it, but it seems likely that they would. I think thats kind of a done deal," said Peter Glaskowsky, analyst for The Envisoneering Group in Long Island, N.Y.

Glaskowsky added, "At the WWDC, next week, we could hear about the 970MP. We could hear about a [G5] laptop. Whether they will do those things or not, I dont know."

Indeed, "The next step would be for [Apple] to use a dual-core processor," said Fred Zieber, analyst at Pathfinder Research Inc. in San Jose, Calif. "If I were Apple, Id be looking at a dual-processor version. Youve got that at AMD [Advanced Micro Devices Inc.] and Intel [Corp.] these days and it would be very natural to adapt the 970 chip to that."

If it were to use the PowerPC 970MP, Apple could effectively offer a four-processor Power Mac by pairing two dual-core processors. That desktop would provide a significant performance jump over its current twin processor machines.

"Itd be a tremendous increase in power, and if they had to, they could increase the clock rate," Zieber said.

Looking even farther ahead, IBM may provide Apple with a derivative of its Power 5 server chip, which would offer additional clock speed and multithreading or the ability to simultaneously process multiple data streams, Glaskowsky said.

"My gut feeling is maybe well see a 970MP this month and then a new [Power 5-derivative, multithreaded] system down the road," he said.